SHOT 2020: Rossi Revives the Model 62 "Gallery Gun"

At the 2020 SHOT show, I was introduced to a new spin on an old favorite, that was a new spin on an old favorite…

Let me elaborate. The sport of plinking arguably started during the days of the shooting gallery. In those days, American boardwalk-goers would fire low-power rimfire cartridges at a variety of reactive targets through guns that were just plain fun to handle and shoot. Rossi remembered these days and built their original pump-action Model 62 (with a little “inspiration” from Winchester, of course) for those looking to relive the fun. Well, eventually, they moved on to other designs and left a hole in the shooting community that was much larger than .22 of an inch. Luckily I snatched up the very last Model 62 rifle and carbine that Taurus had in their warehouse and put them into service at Renaissance Firearms Instruction. To this day, these beauties continue to digest thousands of rounds each year. Of course, the letters started rolling in for another production run, but Rossi had something else up their sleeve. Folks, I bring you the brand-new Rossi Gallery Pump-Action.

The new rimfire rifles retain that beloved pump-action mechanism and sport a few new modern features too, like the option for a black synthetic stock set. The old, flimsy sheet-metal rear sight has been replaced by a sturdier, well-pronounced buckhorn one. Aside from this improvement, the biggest change is the addition of a slide release just forward of the trigger guard, eliminating the need to manually decock the hammer in order to open the action.

In the past, Rossi offered the gun with either a 23-inch barrel or a 16.5-inch barrel. However as I picked up the new models, I noticed the new 18-inch “mid-length” barrel. I think this was a great move because I’ve always thought the 23-inch barrel was too long, and the 16-inch was just silly in the hands of an adult. I was allowed to cycle and dry-fire the gun on the showroom floor ,and found the action to be just as slick as its predecessors’ were. The trigger squeeze was clean and smooth with only a negligible amount of creep and overtravel for its intended purpose—just as you would expect for any hammer-fired long gun.

Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to fill up the enormous 15-round tubular magazine and destroy an army of tin cans at the show, but I made sure to request one for an in-depth review at a later date.

For more information on this one and all of their other unique guns, visit RossiUSA.com.